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    City of South Lake Tahoe Investing $11M in On-Site Cogeneration, Solar PV and Energy Efficiency Upgrades

    Jan. 9, 2025
    The two-year effort will focus on energy and operational efficiencies and provide the city with a cogeneration microturbine, photovoltaic solar panels producing 415 kWdc, and advanced building automation systems across all city-operated buildings.
    Image credit By I, Amadscientist/Wikimedia Commons
    677fd64b8c8162af33a36820 1280pxsouth Lake Tahoe Skyline

    The city of South Lake Tahoe in California has awarded energy services consultant Willdan Group to perform an $11 million energy and infrastructure modernization project.

    The two-year effort will not only combine energy and operational efficiencies for a cost-effective solution but also help the city for future growth and improved sustainability. It will provide the city with a cogeneration microturbine, photovoltaic solar panels producing 415 kWdc, and advanced building automation systems across all city-operated buildings.

    Additionally, Willdan will install water meters, power transformers, and a CO2 ice plant utilizing an environmentally friendly refrigerant to produce ice for the community’s ice arena.

    “This project reduces our city’s carbon emissions while investing in long-term infrastructure that will benefit our community for years to come,” said Sara Letton, Sustainability Coordinator for the city of South Lake Tahoe. “It brings us closer to the goals in our Climate Action Plan, including 100 percent municipal renewable energy by 2032 and a 50% reduction in community-wide emissions by 2030.”

    South Lake Tahoe is situated close by the lake popular to tourists both during summer and ski seasons. It is adjacent to Stateline, Nevada, which is home to numerous casinos.

    Willdan Group has performed numerous energy infrastructure projects for cities such as Bellflower and Palmdale, both in California, as well as Seattle and the large Clark County School District in Nevada.

    Clark County Schools selected Willdan for a $102 million energy savings contract.

    Energy efficiency and savings projects are often called “the first fuel” in decarbonization of the commercial and industrial sectors. The U.S. Department of Energy has reported that global spending on renewable energy, emissions reduction and energy-efficient technologies within industrial processes could be worth $23 trillion by 2030.

     

     

    About the Author

    EnergyTech Staff

    Rod Walton is senior editor for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 14 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.

    Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    He can be reached at [email protected]. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.